Video: with Moroccan feet, Al Ain crush Al Nassr and spoil Cristiano Ronaldo's return to the elite

Al-Alami in the wind

Al-Nassr's return to the AFC Champions League Elite went nowhere near as Cristiano Ronaldo and his team-mates had hoped. Their visit to the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium turned into a bruising night, with Al-Ain running out comprehensive 4-0 winners to prove they can take on one of the continent's biggest clubs.

Ronaldo's side wanted a statement start on their comeback to the elite competition, having spent last season in the AFC Champions League Two. Al-Ain had other ideas. The hosts pounced on every slip and made each one hurt.

The Rahimi family hit Al-Nassr with a treble

Just 25 minutes were all Al-Ain needed to break the deadlock through Hussein Rahimi. Saad Al-Nasser was the culprit, the left-back playing a hopeless ball despite having time and space, and Rahimi seized on it before slotting it through the legs of Nawaf Al-Aqidi.

Read also.. Video: The Rahimi family destroy Al-Nassr through the feet of Hussein and Soufiane! Al-Nassr had no answer to Al-Ain's movement. The hosts kept pressing and kept finding the space behind the visitors' defence, and Hussein Rahimi struck again on 63 minutes, timing a run to perfection and punishing another gap in the back line.

Soufiane then completed the family affair. He added Al-Ain's third on 72 minutes, and with that the two Moroccan brothers had claimed all of the first three goals in Al-Nassr's net. The defending had collapsed, and Al-Nassr simply could not handle the hosts.

Giacomarcs writes the ending, and Khaled Eisa shines

Al-Nassr searched for any way back into the game, but Al-Ain looked sharper and better organised. Every Saudi attempt ran into Khaled Eisa. The hosts' goalkeeper made save after save to keep the deficit intact.

The fourth arrived on 85 minutes. Giacomarcs finished off a pass from Rahimi to complete an exceptional night for the Emirati side, against a Nassr team unable to threaten at either end.

So Al-Ain spoiled Ronaldo's return to the AFC Champions League Elite. Fresh from a season in the AFC Champions League Two, Al-Nassr began life back in the continent's strongest competition with a chastening 4-0 defeat at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, on a night the hosts controlled from first whistle to last.